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FIRING OF THE FATHERS, OR SEEKING WISDOM FROM THE PAST 



DISCOURSES 




i 



PREACHED IN THE 

NEW NORTH CHURCH, 

ON LORD'S DAY, DECEMBER 9th, 

ON THE COMPLETION OF THE 
124th year from THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH 

AND OF THE 
25th year SINCE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE PRESENT PASTOR. 



i 



BY FRANCIS PARKMAN, D. D. 

UBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE HEARER3 




BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY SAMUEL N. DICKINSON 
62 Washington Street. 

1839. 



=<-^^4 




ENQUIRING OF THE FATHERS, OR SEEKING WISDOM FROM THE PAST. 



DISCOURSES 

PREACHED IN THE 

NEW NORTH CHURCH, 

ON LORD'S DAY, DECEMBER 9th, 

ON THE COMPLETION OF THE 
124th year from THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CHURCH 

AND OF THE 
25th YEAR SINCE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE PRESENT PASTOR. 



BY FRANCIS PARKMAN, D. D. 

published btreq,uest of the hearers, 



BOSTON: 

PRINTED BY SAMUEL N. DICKINSON, 
52 Washington Street. 

1839. 



1-73 






SEEKING WISDOM FROM THE PAST. 



SERMON I. 



Deuteronomy 32. 7. 

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many 
generations. ask thy father and he will show thee : thy 
elders and they will tell thee. 

The rapid succession of those periods, by which we 
are accustomed to measure human life and the course of 
human affairs, suggests very useful instruction, and may 
produce the most salutary impressions. It is the part 
of a sound philosophy to seek wisdom from the past, 
that it may obtain guidance for the future. It belongs 
to a filial piety to acknowledge and adore a fatherly 
protection through the scenes and changes of our being, 
and specially does it become a christian's gratitude, to 
hold in reverence the institutions of his religion, which 
are to the world a standing monument of his faith ; 
which preserve for him, in its purity and beauty, that 
pearl of great price, the gospel of his hopes ; by which 
his knowledge is enlarged, and the life of God within 
him is nourished. 

For the same purpose were the chosen people com- 
manded to keep in remembrance the providence and 
grace of God. And when the voices of the elders had 
ceased, and the lips that might have instructed were 
closed in death, they were to consult the annals of their 
history, and gather up the lessons there recorded of 



4 



experience and wisdom. ' Enquire, I pray thee, of the 
former age, and prepare thyself to a search of the fath- 
ers. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, 
because our days upon earth are a shadow.' 

To such enquiries, and to the reflections they suggest, 
we are invited by the period at which we, my friends 
of this religious society, are this day arrived. 

With our last communion sabbath, were completed 
one hundred and twenty-four years since the establish- 
ment of this ancient church, or the first celebration 
within it of the christian ordinances. And with the 
past week, are closed just twenty-five years since the 
ordination of its present pastor. The concurrence of 
these two periods, embracing the past and the present 
history of this religious society, invite our recollections 
of the way, in which the Lord our God has led us and 
our Fathers through this succession of years, and should 
awaken our grateful acknowledgements for the protec- 
tion with which we have been favored. Such acknow- 
ledgements become every child of God, as he remembers 
the goodness which has followed him all his days. 
Especially do they become a religious community, when 
with the return of stated periods, they survey the bles- 
sings which have been transmitted to them, through 
successive generations, and in the possession of which 
they are still permitted to rejoice. Let me ask you, 
then, my christian friends, with this day to consider the 
days of old, and to unite with them our thankful ac- 
knowledgements of present blessings. 

This religious society was gathered in 1714. 
Its origin was not in division and uncharitableness, 
but in reverence for religious institutions, and a desire 



to meet the wants of an increasing population. Its 
separation from the parent church — the Old North — 
was, therefore, in a spirit of perfect harmony, in the 
same co-operation and mutual kindness, which to so 
large an extent, and through successive periods, 
have distinguished the churches of this city. Into the 
details of its history, however, during the first century, 
it is not my design, as it is unnecessary for me to enter. 
These are exhibited, with his characteristic fidelity and 
discrimination, by my excellent predecessor, the late 
Dr. Eliot, in his discourse preached at the dedication 
of this church, in 1804.* And I may also refer 
you for some biographical notices of my predecessors, 
to another discourse, published at your request, in 1814; 
and which, if it be still in the hands of any among you, 
would render my repetition, at the present time, alike 
needless and unbecoming. 

I am not, however, unmindful, that with the lapse 
even of fewer years than have gone by since the com- 
pletion of a century in this church, events once familiar 
and fresh in remembrance, may, with the things of old, 
have gone quite out of mind ; or, that within that pe- 
riod, a new generation has arisen, by whom they may 
never have been known. Allow me, then, for the sake 
of my younger hearers, to whom I trust such a recapit- 
ulation may not be altogether uninteresting or unprofita- 
ble, to exhibit with brevity the way in which the Lord 
our God has led us. 

The first pastor of this church, was the Rev.. John 
Webb, by whom, soon after its organization, the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's supper was for the first time admin- 

* Note A. 



istered, in November, 1714; and with whom, in 1720, 
agreeably to the usage of the churches at that period, 
dividing the ministerial labors between pastor and 
teacher, was associated the Rev. Peter Thacher, pre- 
viously settled in Weymouth. This step, notwithstand- 
ing the acknowledged worth and distinguished gifts of 
the individual, was the occasion of a schism, which 
issued in the foundation of another religious society, 
now our sister church, and was a rare and melancholy, 
I am sorry to add, disgraceful exception to the harmony, 
by which, as has been said, the religious communities of 
Boston have been generally distinguished. The causes 
and effects of this dissension, I have no inclination to 
discuss. It is enough to say, that it appears to have 
originated with a minority of the society, in some con- 
scientious scruples, which in these latter days have 
ceased, as to the propriety or even lawfulness of invit- 
ing a minister to one church, who was already the pastor 
of another. It was unconnected with the personal 
or professional character of Mr. Thacher, except, in- 
deed, as it implies a high estimate of both ; and, after 
his death, in 1738, amidst the general respect, the Rev. 
Andrew Eliot was, in 1742, associated with Mr. Webb, 
as his second colleague, and upon the decease of the 
latter, in 1750, became the sole pastor of the church. 
In this relation Dr. Eliot remained, amidst the conflicts 
of the revolution, and the various fortunes of the flock 
till his death in 1778. With this event, was closed a 
mmistry of thirty-six years, which for its ability, fidel- 
ity, and acceptance, is still remembered by many of the 
aged, of various denominations, in this city with re- 
spectful recollections, and the praise of which is in all 



the churches of New England.* Like his predecessor 
and colleague, Mr. Webb, to whom 1 would gladly pay 
my passing tribute as to one of the most conscientious 
and faithful servants of Christ Jesus— he loved his pro- 
fession, and consecrated to it the full energy of his vig- 
orous understanding, and of his upright heart ; declining 
a hiffh academical distinction, that was once and again 
presented to his choice, and preferring to spend and be 
spent in the service of his people. Happy the people, 
and happy too the city, that rejoiced in his light. His 
devotion to his calling, and to his church, commanded 
at once their respect and gratitude. It was the source 
to him of much of his personal happiness ; he deliber- 
ately regarded it as the security of his professional use- 
fulness ; and let it not be counted presumption, if I 
venture to commend his example and his opinions in 
this regard, to his brethren and successors of the present 
day, as the most effectual method of preserving, amidst 
these changing times, the permanent influence of the 
ministry. 

With the death of Dr. Andrew Eliot, was occasioned 
the first vacancy that had occurred in the ministry of 
this church, during a period of sixty-four years, it being 
one of the advantages of a collegiate charge, that the 
survivor succeeded to the whole duty, and the people 
were not left destitute. Nor was this interval of long 
duration. With a degree of unanimity somewhat re- 
markable in a community recognising no merit by de- 
scent, and naturally jealous of any form of hereditary 
succession, civil or ecclesiastical. Rev. John Eliot was, 
within a few months, invited to supply his place. The 
confidence cherished for the father, you thus early trans- 

* Note B. 



8 



ferred to the son. His personal graces and virtues left 
you no reason afterwards to regret your choice. His 
ministry of nearly thirty-four years, was one of exem- 
plary faithfulness on his part, of warm attachment and 
harmony on yours. 

I should fail of discharging, on this occasion, what I 
owe to the memory of my predecessor, if from mere 
unwillingness to repeat what I may in some other form 
have expressed, I should wholly omit a notice of some 
of his distinguishing traits. 

Dr. Eliot was of the few whom all men loved. 
And this is the rather to be mentioned, because he 
united the gentleness that attracted afi'ection, with a re- 
markable honesty and simplicity of utterance. To a 
degree beyond most men, characterised as was he by 
the amiable and kind, did he use plainness of speech. 
His judgment of character, always considerate, was al- 
so discriminating. He was not of those, who through 
a false candor or fear of displeasure confound moral 
distinctions. He was accustomed to call persons as 
well as things, by their proper names. Yet such confi- 
dence was there in the kindness and child-like simplicity 
of his heart, that his was the rare felicity of making the 
plainest seem also the kindest utterance. I have never 
heard of an instance in which he gave offence : or if 
for a moment it seemed to be given, it was as quickly 
obliterated in the certainty that the design was friendly, 
and, what was specially to the purpose, that the judg- 
ment was true. 

Of this sound discrimination of character, he has 
given examples in that valuable work, the ' Biographical 
Dictionary,' the most important of his publications, in 



which he has sketched with a masterly hand, the char- 
acters of various individuals, particularly of some whose 
public course, political or ecclesiastical, divided the 
opinions of thier cotemporaries. From the accuracy of 
his delineations, and the impartiality of his judgments, 
it were seldom safe to appeal.* 

For Dr. Eliot has been claimed, by one who cher- 
ished for him an enthusiastic fondness, distinguished 
praise ' as a good scholar and a ripe one.' And by 
another of his warm admirers, he has been designated 
as the ' Jortin of America.' He was a reader of the 
Roman classics to his death. In accurate and discrim- 
inating acquaintance with the history and biography of 
his own country, he had few his equals, and perhaps no 
superior. 

But he never permitted his love of letters, or devo- 
tion to favorite pursuits of any kind, to divert him from 
the faithful discharge of professional duty. He was a 
diligent writer of sermons ; and though as a preacher, 
not distinguished, as was his father, for popular or com- 
manding gifts, and from the native delicacy and modesty 
of his mind, shrinking instinctively from every art of 
exhibition or display, which none were quicker to dis- 
cern, and none could with a sweeter grace ridicule in 
others — yet to the serious and judicious he could have 
been no otherwise than acceptable. As a pastor, he 
was excelled by none, eminently devoted to the flock, 
being unto them always as a father and a brother. 
Notwithstanding his habits of study, and the number 
of his literary as well as professional avocations — for 
which he usually redeemed his mornings — he was often 

* Note C. 
2 



10 



found with the families and at the firesides of his people. 
In truth, he gave more of his time to pastoral intercourse, 
than was then customary with his brethren, or which 
would be possible — I am not sure it would be expedient — 
to a young clergyman, who had not attained to his 
experience, or had not with equal fidelity improved his 
years of preparation for the labors of his pulpit. I re- 
member it as among those anxieties incident to every 
thoughtful young man, entering upon an untried field of 
duty, that I was to be successor of one who maintained 
so constant and so welcome an intercourse within the 
dwellings of his society. If I have followed him, my 
christian friends, with unequal steps, I may yet venture 
to say, that I have ' done what I could.' If I have fail- 
ed in the performance, I have not been wanting in the 
purpose : for, being present with you, or absent, I have 
remembered the commandment, once given of old 
to the tribe of Levi, that the names of the people should 
be in their heart, and that they should bear them before 
the Lord continually. 

Dr. Eliot retained to his death, the manners and cos- 
tume of the old school, which, but in a few cherished 
exceptions, have now quite disappeared. They were 
in unison with the natural politeness of his heart, and 
with that sentiment of respect, which it was one of the 
salutary influences of his early education to inspire, for 
whatever was good and venerable, and which, in turn, 
he conciliated for himself. In simplicity and sincerity, 
he had his conversation in the world. He has long 
since been joined with them who see God, the pure and 
the just made perfect. But his image, my elder hear- 
ers, is still familiar to your recollections, and his mem- 
ory, I know, is embalmed in your hearts. 



11 



Thus you perceive, from this brief survey, that 
for the space of almost a century, viz. ninety-eight 
years, this church was favored with the ministry of four 
successive or collegiate, pastors, interrupted only by the 
short interval of thirteen months, between the death of 
the elder and the ordination of the younger Eliot. And 
he having died in February, 1813, and the settlement 
of the present pastor having taken place at the close of 
the same year, leaves a period to this church of one 
hundred and twenty-four years, with less than two years 
of vacancy. When now we consider the inconveniencies 
to which a religious society is subjected, by a frequent 
interruption of the pastoral care, and by the changes, 
which of late years, have become common in our 
churches, this circumstance may not be deemed unwor- 
thy of our grateful notice, in considering the way 
through which the Lord our God hath led us. 

II. Let us now turn to the period which has since 
elapsed, and which, commencing with December 1813, 
completes a quarter of a century, since my entrance on 
this ministry. 

Did the occasion permit — or rather did not a certain 
decorum forbid — any mingling of what to the stranger 
must seem, the private interests of a single church with 
the wider interests of nations, I might remind you, that 
the last twenty-five years constitute of themselves a 
period of unusual interest in the political as well as 
moral world ; in which, beyond most others of equal 
duration, signal changes have been witnessed ; events 
of no ordinary moment have occurred, affecting the con- 
dition and the prospects of mankind. What revolutions 
has it witnessed in the governments of the world !— 



12 



Within it, nations have risen and fallen, and the powers 
of the earth have been shaken. Crowned heads have 
been brought low. Monarchs in long succession, the 
young, and they of hoary age, have been lain together 
in their graves — their sceptres and their kingdoms trans- 
ferred to other hands. If we look only to the nation 
from which we sprung — the eldest monarch of Europe, 
and of the whole British line, extending through a term 
of almost one thousand years — George III. — and with 
him three of his sons, the heirs, or successive occupants 
of his throne, have exchanged their palaces for the tomb, 
while others of his royal house, in the bloom of youth, 
as they were just attaining the summit of earthly glory, 
* permitted to see every thing, but to grasp nothing,' 
have closed their eyes in death. Of those, too, who 
by their genius, their wisdom, or their eloquence, or by 
their preeminent rank, setting them on the very pinna- 
cle of human society, then controlled the destinies of 
England — scarcely an individual remains. They are 
and their high places of honor and power know themgone, 
no more. 

In our own country also, the last twenty-five years 
have been fruitful of change. Within them we have 
known war and peace, and vicissitudes of other sorts, 
which I need not in this place declare. We shall not 
easily forget — though it must be counted only among the 
incidents of such a calamity as war — how the silence and 
solemnity of our sabbaths were once and again disturb- 
ed, in the melancholy summer of 1814, by the passage 
of troops through our generally peaceful city ; nor the 
spectacle of the then venerable pastor of yonder sister 



13 



church,* going with his spade among the multitude of 
his fellow-citizens, to aid in the erection of fortifications 
on yonder island, to protect the city from the enemy. 
Neither can we forget the grateful exultation with which 
was welcomed the return of peace, for it was a day 
made joyful by the thanksgivings of many unto God. 

Other events there are, interesting and important, 
which might not improperly be exhibited here, but 
which would open far too wide a field for our present 
reflection. We may glance only at those of an exclu- 
sively moral or religious influence. And here it may 
be safely asserted, that the last twenty-five years have 
been fruitful beyond all former precedent, in enterprises 
of piety and benevolence. A vast machinery, curiously 
formed and wonderfully complicated, has been set in 
motion for the physical, social, moral, and spiritual im- 
provement of the world. If to these twenty-five years 
we add the thirteen that preceded them, embracing thus 
all that belong to the nineteenth century, they will 
include the beginnings of almost all those associa- 
tions, religious and philanthropic, which at the pres- 
ent moment are in most active operation. I do not 
mean that before this passing century, such associations 
were not known. On the contrary, both within our own 
country and Great Britain many admirable institutions 
did exist, the fruit of christian charity, which for wis- 
dom in the design, for fidelity and usefulness in their 
administration, have not since been surpassed. Many 
of these, however, have been merged in the wider and 
all-embracing schemes, by which associations at the 
present day are characterised. Countless are the insti- 

* Rev. Dr. John Lathrop, then in his 75th year. 



14 



tutions which, from the formation in 1804, of the 
British and Foreign Bible Society, and of kindred 
societies soon after in our own country, have been 
established. Their name is Legion. Time would 
fail me to utter what has been purposed and accom- 
plished, in the name and for the sake of Freedom, 
Temperance, Peace ; in the great cause of Education, 
for the suppression of vice, for the abolition of Slavery, 
for the conversion of the Heathen, for relief of the 
maladies and supply of the wants both of body and soul. 
On many of these institutions, the blessed fruit, I 
repeat, of that gospel, which teaches that we are alike 
the children of a common Father, and speaks peace in 
Christ Jesus, God has been pleased to command the 
manifest tokens of his favor. Let our souls praise Him 
for the spirit of piety and philanthropy, which under 
his guidance prompted them, for the good they have 
already accomplished, and for all the good we may 
hope they are still destined to accomplish. We may 
count it an honor, my Christian friends, if by any efforts 
of our own, however small, we have enjoyed the oppor- 
tunity of advancing these objects, and of thus becoming 
fellow-workers with God, in blessing his children. Let 
our prayers ascend ever with our alms, and let it be our 
hearts' desire, that on the sacred cause of truth, and 
freedom, and humanity ; on our schools and our church- 
es, specially on our Sunday Schools, and our ministries 
for the Poor, which are among the choicest fruits of the 
prevailing charity of the day, the dew of God's blessing 
may continually descend. 

If of some other schemes of philanthropy, not to be 
overlooked among the teeming inventions of the day, 
we are constrained to admire somewhat more the zeal 



15 



than the excellent judgment, and as the best expression 
of our good will can only wish for them the guidance 
of that wisdom, which dwelleth with discretion, still 
will we not cease to trust, that they shall issue in good ; 
that by attention excited to the objects they propose, 
and by a just estimate of the means through which we 
may hope their accomplishment. He from whom all 
just counsels and good works proceed, will cause, 
that the interests of humanity and virtue may be finally 
advanced. 

If, too, in the course of my ministrations I have 
not been studious to urge upon your attention these 
multiplying projects of the times, and may have seem- 
ed to some even deficient in a zeal, which in others 
glows with so bright a flame, I must ask with an apos- 
tle to be forgiven this wrong, which has come, not, I 
trust, from indifference, or worldly policy, or fear, but 
from some honest convictions, that there were objects 
of higher moment, beter to command our affections. 
True it is, I have not sought to enlist your zeal in some 
of the passing excitements of the day, because beyond 
them all, and above them all, I have counted the minis- 
try of the gospel of Christ Jesus. And while according 
to my measure, amidst whatever of weakness or error, 
I have sought to exhibit the great things of God's law, 
and have reasoned of righteousness, of temperance, and 
a judgment to come, I have been unwilling to neglect 
the greater in any pursuit of the less. 

It is recorded, as you know, of one of those ancient 
worthies, whose examples are written for our instruc- 
tion, that when engaged in an important work, and 
invited of certain of his countrymen to attend a meeting 
' in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono,' he sent 



16 



messengers unto them, saying, » I am doing a great 
work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the 
work cease, whilst 1 leave it and come down to you ? ' 
'And though,' it is added, 'they sent unto me four 
times after this sort, I answered them still after the 
same manner.' Nehemiah vi. 2. I have counted that 
this example of the Jewish Governor of faithful devo- 
tion to his own work, might well be imitated by us of 
these later days ; who though not called to the same 
arduous duties as were his, might show the same fidel- 
ity in our own. And if we, my christian brethren, 
would maintain the institutions of our holy religion in 
their simplicity and efficacy, let us keep them separate 
from the passing excitements of the day. Let us not 
presume to mingle the unchangeable truths of God, 
with the doubtful theories or devices of men. The 
gospel of Christ Jesus is destined to survive the changes 
of time. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but 
the word of our God abideth forever. 

III. I should now invite you to consider those passa- 
ges in our religious history, which within this commu- 
nity, and particularly this society, are most interesting 
to us. We should thus be led to survey the course of 
God's providence towards us, in its blessings and chas- 
tisements, in what He hath bestowed, and in what He 
hath taken. But these topics, with the reflections sug- 
gested by our whole subject, must be reserved for the 
afternoon. 

Now may the Lord God be with us, as He was with 
our fathers. May He incline us to His way, and so 
nourish us by His grace, that we may grow into an 
holy temple unto the Lord, builded together for an 
habitation of God through the spirit. 



INSTRUCTION FROM THE PAST. 



SERMON II 



1 Samuel, 7. 12. 
' Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.' 

' When ye are come to the brink of the waters of 
Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan,' was the command 
of the leader of Israel to the chosen people, when they 
were about to witness a signal deliverance. And it was 
upon another manifestation of the same guardian care, 
that Samuel, the venerable prophet of Israel, assembled 
the people, and took a stone and set it up for a pillar, 
and said, ' Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.' 

In this spirit of grateful recollection, and devout ac- 
knowledgment, not certainly of a miraculous, yet of a 
most gracious and adorable Providence, would we re- 
member the ways of God in our sanctuary. We have 
glanced at the days of our fathers. Let us come nearer 
to our own. Let us survey as proposed in the third 
place, the history of our religious community, and par- 
ticularly of this christian society, during the twenty-five 
years which have now passed, since it was my happi- 
ness to be connected with it. 

At the time of my ordination, in 1813,* and for 
a few years preceding, the condition of the churches 
in this city, then town of Boston, differed in many 
important particulars, from that of the present day. In 

* Note D. 

3 



l: 



number, as might easily be anticipated from a regularly 
advancing population, they are greatly increased. To 
the twenty-three then existing, there have been added 
twenty-eight, of all denominations, besides the chapels 
sustained by churches of various names, for the ministry 
of the poor, and two other churches, specially set apart 
for the worship and religious instruction of seamen. 

Of our congregational churches united with the Bos- 
ton Association, there were ten,* with all the ministers 
of which, there existed a friendly ministerial intercourse, 
the interchange, that is, of professional services in each 
other's pulpits, by which their personal friendships, and 
the fellowship of the churches, were happily maintain- 
ed. This continued, with little exception or interrup- 
tion, till the memorable Trinitarian controversy between 
the Rev. Drs. Channing and Worcester, in 1815. 
By the previous establishment, how^ever, of the The- 
ological Institution at Andover, in 1808, and the erec- 
tion of the church in Park street, in 1 809, for the 
express purpose of upholding the orthodox faith ; to 
which must be added, in this connexion, the results 
of the election of the Hollis Professor of Divinity, 
at a still earlier period — 1804 — an influence had been 
set in operation, which, combined with that of a well 
known religious journal zealously enlisted in the cause, 
issued in the adoption of what has been significantly term- 
ed, the ' Exclusive system.' On which side it was com- 
menced, or at whose pleasure pursued, I detain you not 
to declare. Be this as it may, the official exchanges, 
which to some considerable extent had been maintained 

* This includes the nine old congregational churches united in the Quarterly 
Charity Lecture, and the King's Chapel. 



19 



by all the ministers of the ancient congreg£(tional 
churches, and had included the pastors of the two elder 
Baptist churches, whose voices have been heard by some 
of you, my hearers, in this assembly,* were then con- 
fined to brethren of like faith. Thus, while the num- 
ber of churches and of pastors was enlarged, the range 
of ministerial intercourse was narrowed. Yet, even 
after this period, councils for ordinations were occasion- 
ally composed of representatives from churches of dif- 
fering doctrinal views, though of the same congrega- 
tional denomination. Nor was it till after the settlement 
of the Rev. Mr. Wisner, as pastor of the Old South 
Church, in 1820, that such unions, having a show of 
christian harmony but wanting the spirit, utterly ceased. 
In truth, it must be admitted, that attractive as may 
be the theory of an universal fellowship, there are diffi- 
culties and embarrassments in the practice, against 
which no human wisdom or charity may efiectually 
guard. Whatever, therefore, of good might seem to 
have been lost to a mere official intercourse, was gained 
to decorum and good will, by the avoiding of occasions 
of offence, and the effectual exclusion from the same 
pulpits, of a discordant theology. On the other hand, 
we believe, and we rejoice in the belief, that with ad- 
vancing knowledge, and changes, not few or small, 
that have gradually been introduced to soften and make 
acceptable to the people, the sterner features of a once 
repulsive and terrific faith ; and especially from associ- 

* Rev. Drs. Stillman and Baldwin ; to the former of whom, Dr. Andrew 
Eliot gave the Right Hand of Fellowship, at his installation in 1765, and with 
whom both he and his son occasionally exchanged. All the services of this 
installation, with the exception of the sermon, were by congregational clergy- 
men. 



20 



ations of christians of various names in common ob- 
jects of philanthropy, in the cause of education, peace, 
temperance, and kindred interests, many good influences 
have followed, and a wider charity, the natural fruit of 
hearty cooperation, has been diffused. 

But, dismissing all topics of doubtful disputation, 
which commend us not to God, neither are profitable to 
men, I take great pleasure in remarking, that of the 
churches and of the ministers with which we, christian 
brethren, are united, it has been the distinguished felic- 
ity to maintain uninterrupted harmony. We may not 
presume to apply to our spiritual state the beauti- 
ful description given by the evangelist of the prim- 
itive disciples, after the first persecution by the Roman 
emperors had ceased.* But it is the expression only 
of our reasonable gratitude to say, that through a long 
succession of years we have enjoyed peace, absolute 
and without exception. The divisions so common in 
the day of our fathers, among christians professing the 
same faith, and the yet more shameful divisions between 
members, and even colleague pastors, of the same 
church, the history of w^hich is a standing blot upon 
their records — (let us wipe it off as we can from their 
memories) — have not, thanks to the God of peace, de- 
scended to us. We know them only as the things that 
are passed away. But, while we rejoice in the peace 
that has blest our churches, uniting the pastors and the 
flocks, each to one another, and, may it be, all to God, 
let us take heed, beloved, that it be not the peace that 

* 'Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Sama- 
ria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort 
of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.' — [Acta 9. 31. 



21 



cometh with indifference, or with that worldliness of 
mind, which being engrossed with the things earthly, has 
no care for the things heavenly ; which, not less than 
uncharitableness, ensnares the soul, and is distinctly de- 
clared to be enmity with God. 

Amidst, however, these needful cautions, suggested 
by a just sense of our dangers, and not to be forgotten 
even amidst congratulations, 1 cannot but rejoice with 
you, christian brethren and friends, in the harmony 
which unites, and with the solitary exception to which 
I alluded this morning, belonging to the earliest period 
of its history, more than a century ago, has ever united 
this society. I bless God, that the unanimity in which 
this fair temple was erected, in the day of my honored 
predecessor, which happily distinguished this congrega- 
tion through the whole of his ministry, and was among 
the chosen satisfactions of his life, have not been inter- 
rupted in mine. Let it be our hearty prayer and our 
faithful endeavor, that it may be preserved ; that we 
may always know, as did our fathers, and that our chil- 
dren after us may know, as do we, how good and how 
pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity. But may it be our care, also, and our hearts' de- 
sire, to add to our unity the ' beauty of holiness,' the 
grace of an evangelic virtue. ' I suppose,' said one of 
our venerable fathers, in his sermon at the dedication of 
yonder sister church, nearly one hundred and twenty 
years ago,* ' I suppose there is not a more beautiful 
church in all the land, built for the worship of God, 

* See Dr. Cotton Mather's sermon at the dedication of the new brick (now 
second) church, 1720. 



22 



than this. But what will it signify if it have not the 
beauty of holiness.' 

But I must come more immediately to our own days. 
And here, I am persuaded, you will not count it a de- 
parture from the decorum which should usually restrain 
the indulgence of personal feeling, if on this occasion, 
when adverting to our history for the last twenty-five 
years, I should have somewhat to say of myself. The 
history of any church is, or should be, identical with that 
of its ministers, and a mention of either includes some 
mention of both. That ministry must be poor indeed, 
and its end, if not fully come, ought to be nigh at hand, 
that admits of being separated from the annals of its 
church. 

I entered, my brethren, into this relation, when as 
yet in the freshness of youth, and in sincerity, as I trust, 
of purpose, mingled with whatever of infirmity, to de- 
vote myself to its service. It becomes me gratefully 
to adore that divine goodness, that has preserved me to 
this day, and permitted me, amidst the ravages of sick- 
ness and death, which at one period threatened to des- 
olate the churches,* to stand in my lot, and to fulfil 
according to my measure, its various duties. It be- 
comes me the more to acknowledge this care and pa- 
tience of my heavenly father, when I consider that of 
my brethren of all denominations, who were in the 
ministry here in 1 813, only four remain ;t that, with the 

* From the time of the death of Rev. Dr. Eckley, and of Mr. Emerson, in 
1811, to that of Mr. Huntingdon, in 1819, there was an unusual measure of 
sickness and mortality among the clergy in Boston. Besides those who were 
removed by death, others were detained from their ministry by protracted 
sickness. 

f Rev. Drs. Channing, Lowell, Sharp, and Rev. Mr. Dean. 



23 



exception only of this, every other congregational church 
of the city has received a new minister, (though, hap- 
pily, in two of them the senior pastors remain,) most 
of them more than one ; two of them three, and two 
others four successive pastors ; that within the same 
period, there have been no less than thirty ordinations, 
nineteen removals or resignations among those who yet 
live ; and that eight have died. 

It must be observed, that I here include only those 
churches that were in existence in 1813. Twenty- 
eight others, of various denominations, and embracing 
a larger or smaller number of worshippers, have been 
established since that period, to meet the wants of an 
increasing population, and the corresponding diversities 
of religious faith. Of these churches of recent origin, 
ten are congregational, the pastors of four of which, are 
united with the Boston association : and within six of 
these ten churches, there have already been several re- 
movals. 

I am not willing to enter into professional statistics, 
that have little value in themselves, or terminate in the 
bare statement of insulated facts, leading to no useful 
results. Yet there are some which, in a connexion like 
this, may simply be stated, were it only to gratify a 
momentary curiosity in those who love details, and pos- 
sibly some natural fondness for what belongs to one's 
favorite pursuits. Let me, therefore, just say, that in 
more than two thousand eight hundred stated services 
of the sabbath, or of our established seasons of worship, 
I have supplied my place, in person or by exchange, 
present or absent, almost without exception ; and on no 



24 



more than four or five sabbaths, have I been detained 
by sickness from the house of God. 

Within this quarter of a century, I find that there are 
on the records of the church, 625 baptisms, of which 
a few were of children and adults not belonging to this 
society ;* that one hundred and two have made a 
profession in order to baptism ; and one hundred 
and seventy-six have been added to the church in full 
communion ; making the total number of those who 
have been baptized, during the whole period of this so- 
ciety of one hundred and twenty-four years, seven thou- 
sand six hundred and sixty-seven ; of those professing 
the baptismal covenant, eight hundred and sixty-eight ; 
and of those who have joined themselves to the church 
in the partaking of the Lord's supper, one thousand 
three hundred and eighty-nine. 

I have spoken of the harmony which has happily 
united our congregational body. As an evidence of this, 
we have been invited by sister churches, near and re- 
mote, to numerous ecclesiastical councils, (eighty-one 
in number,) not, as was too often in the days of our 
fathers, for the settlement of disputes, for the rebuke 
of heresy, or the infliction of discipline upon the schism- 
atic or refractory ; but for the peaceful induction of 
ministers, called for the most part, by the unanimous 
voice of an affectionate and waiting people. Such in- 
vitations we have cordially accepted, and they have 
been to us occasions not of strife and debate, but of 



* In this number of baptisms, are included between eighty and ninety of the 
Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys, now united to the Farm School, on 
Thompson's Island. For many years, the pupils, with their governess, attend- 
ed worship in the New North Church, and were consequently under the pasto- 
ral care of the minibter. 



25 



christian fellowship, and, we will hope, spiritual bene- 
diction. 

Let me here advert for a moment, to our stated, or 
occasional charities. It is the duty of every religious 
society, as it is of the private christian, to unite its alms 
with prayers. And it may be numbered among the 
good influences of our social worship, and of the union 
within the same temple of all classes and conditions of 
men, the rich and the poor, the prosperous and the sor- 
rowful, that the spirit of benevolence so naturally mingles 
with the spirit of piety ; and that while we are seeking 
blessings for ourselves, we are taught not to be unmind- 
ful of our suffering brethren. In this church, as might 
be inferred from its numbers, and its location, there have 
never been wanting worthy objects for our charity ; 
neither has there been wanting the ability or readiness 
to relieve them. Agreeably to the returns furnished 
me by the deacons of the church, there have been col- 
lected, partly in the offerings of the communion table, 
partly at our contributions previous to the annual 
Thanksgiving, a sum exceeding six thousand dollars, 
which at stated intervals, and with a due regard to the 
differing claims and conditions of families or individu- 
als, has been distributed to our deserving poor ; of whom 
are the widow and the fatherless, not a few, also, who 
have seen brighter days, but who, 'waxen poor' with 
infirmities and declining age, come to need the bounty 
which they were once glad to bestow. I can bear 
grateful testimony to the worth and excellence of this 
evangelic charity. The altar consecrates the gift. It 
blesses him that gives, for it is sanctified by prayer ; and 
it blesses him that receives, for it is administered with 
4 



26 



a considerate sympathy, and in supplying the wants of 
the saints, is abundant also in thanksgivings unto God. 
I know of few forms of charity more useful or unex- 
ceptionable than this. 

In addition to these monthly or annual collections for 
our own poor, we have had, as is customary in other so- 
cieties, many contributions, or private subscriptions, for 
various purposes, for the support of our Sunday school ; 
for the ministry at large within the city ; for the Amer- 
ican Unitarian Association, and the Massachusetts 
Evangelical Missionary Society, (an excellent institu- 
tion, which 1 commend again to your liberality ;) for 
the relief of towns or of districts, that had suffered by 
fire ; and, lastly, in aid of destitute churches in less fa- 
vored portions of the land. The amount thus collected 
cannot with precision be ascertained, and undoubtedly 
contributions have been made, which are quite forgotten. 
But from minutes procured from the records of the so- 
ciety, and from some notices of my own, I may state, 
that more than five thousand dollars have thus been 
gathered, making a total sum of at least eleven thousand 
dollars, consecrated to charity. 

I present these details, not certainly as any token of 
extraordinary liberality ; nor as exceeding, perhaps, in 
any given instance, what, in common with all other re- 
ligious communities, it was very meet and right, yea, 
our bounden duty to offer, but as exhibiting in the 
amount a gratifying proof, among others that might be 
given, of the solid results of a quiet, unostentatious, but 
faithfully continued charity : of the indirect advantages, 
moreover, which flow from these our christian institu- 
tions, regarded as a medium of christian benevolence. 



27 



For we see, brethren, how the offerings cast from month 
to month, and from year to year, into the treasury of 
the temple, though they may be in some as the wid- 
ow's mite, and burdensome to none, shall in a short term 
of years swell to a goodly offering, acceptable to God, 
and fruitful of service to men. 

Of the few events or incidents, which the books of 
the church, or personal recollection supplies, I shall only 
state, that in 1819, the public reading of the baptismal, 
or, as it was strangely termed of old, the ' half way 
covenant,' which had before been administered in the 
presence of the whole congregation, was by an unani- 
mous vote of the church dispensed with ; ' it being 
deemed sufficient that the parents acknowledge it in 
private.' 

I shall here take the freedom of transcribing a few 
sentences from the records of the church. 

December 11, 1827. ' The brethren met by request 
of the pastor, and the meeting having been opened with 
prayer, he proposed, for the acceptance of the church, 
on the admission of members, a covenant, which was 
adopted by the Old North Church, in the time of 
Mr. Mayo, their first pastor, and afterwards in use 
during the ministry of the Mathers : — a covenant, re- 
commending itself by its brevity, simplicity, and entire 
freedom from points of doubtful disputation, and which 
may be regarded, also, as a monument of the wisdom 
and moderation, no less than of the faith and piety of 
that ancient church from which we were derived. It 
was also stated, that upon these grounds it had recently 
been adopted by our sister church.* Whereupon, it was 

* The Second church ; for a full and interesting account of which, see the 
century discourse of Rev. Professor H. Ware, jr., its then pastor. 



28 



unanimously voted, ' that the same covenant be adopted, 
and henceforth used at the reception of members of this 
church.' ' 

The following is the form of this unexceptionable 
document. As its brevity permits, I am sure its sim- 
plicity will easily excuse its insertion. 

' You do in this solemn presence, give up yourself to 
the true God in Christ Jesus, and you promise to walk 
before God and this church of His, in his holy ordinan- 
ces, and to yield your obedience to every truth of His 
which has been, or shall be made known to you, as your 
duty ; the Lord assisting you by his spirit and grace. 

'We, then, the Church of Christ in this place, do wel- 
come you to our fellowship, and we promise to walk to- 
wards you as a member of the same body with ourselves, 
endeavoring your spiritual edification in Christ Jesus.' 

Such, brethren, is a specimen of the covenants adopt- 
ed by our earliest predecessors, the Pilgrim Fathers of 
New England. They did not seek, as have some that 
came after them, to hold dominion over faith, by pre- 
scribing articles of human device. They did not pre- 
sume to debar from the blessed ordinances of the gospel, 
any for whom Christ died. The covenants of the first 
churches were characterised, as has been well remark- 
ed,* ' by the spirit of christian benignity and toleration ;' 
and it may be added, also, by the soundest wisdom and 
the highest philosophy. 

Into further details, though to some they might 
be not without a certain interest, I shall not enter. 

* See a discourse on the Principles of the Reformation, preached at the dedi- 
cation of the First Congregational Church in Salem, by its pastor, Rev. Charles 
W. Upbam : in the appendix to which, the reader may find, also, the first cov- 
enant of that ancient church, drawn up by Francis Higginson. 



29 



In truth, the history of a peaceful religious society 
furnishes scanty materials for narration. Like the 
course of a well-ordered family, it is to be traced chiefly 
in the quiet enjoyment of its privileges, in the returns 
of its consecrated seasons, and in a regular, though un- 
obtrusive progress in knowledge and godliness. It is 
in times of division, and of excited zeal, amidst anger 
and uncharitableness, that the historian, sacred or pro- 
fane, gathers his amplest harvest. Accordingly, we 
find that the early records of some of our churches, 
abound with materials of this sort. Whether it was 
that religion occupied more the hearts of the people 
than it now does, or, which is nearer the truth, was 
more identified with their civil and political relations, 
whether that a stricter cognizance was taken of individ- 
ual character, and of every thing supposed to affect the 
cause of Christ, certain it is, that lamentably frequent 
were the inflictions of discipline, and bitter the contro- 
versies in which they were sometimes engaged.* — 
He that shall survey their ecclesiastical annals, and 
observe how often the weak or the fallen were called to 
judgment ; how often the brethren aggrieved appealed 
to sister churches for redress from the brethren offend- 
ing ; how one council was opposed to another council, 
and censures and monitions, suspensions and excommu- 
nications, were reciprocally interchanged, will be com- 

* The divisions in the First Church in Salem, during the ministry of Rev. 
Mr. Fisk, which continued for many years, and in 1735, drew upon her the 
censures, and finally, the withdrawing from her communion of this and other 
churches, may be cited as an instance. 

But for further examples of these melancholy divisions, see the highly in- 
teresting and instructive discourse, delivered by the venerable Dr Bancroft, of 
Worcester, January 31st, 1836, on the completion of fifty years of his ministry. 



30 



pelled to acknowledge, that our fathers realized but 
imperfectly, the communion of the saints ; that what- 
ever may have been their reverence for God, they had 
not learnt from their Master, compassion for the igno- 
rant, and them out of the way. If we, their children, 
have lost somewhat of that zeal for God, which was 
thus jealous for his ordinances, we have learnt, perhaps, 
something of the charity, which endureth, because it 
hopeth all things. And amidst a due sense of unwor- 
thiness and the humility becoming us, we shall not be 
solicitous to enquire why the former days were better 
than these, for the experience of Solomon conspires 
with our own, to teach us, that we may not enquire 
wisely concerning this. 

Of the subjects pertaining to my own ministry, I 
have, thus far, spoken chiefly of the living. But to 
God belong the issues of death as well as life, and there 
is another record, my friends, which I must present, and 
which I never survey without emotion. It exhibits the 
names of 659, who, within the last twenty-five years, 
have been gathered to the congregation of the dead.* 
Of this whole number, whose funeral rites I have at- 
tended, 481 belonged to this society, making an annual 
average among us, of between nineteen and twenty 
deaths. The proportion of infants, or children under 
ten years of age, is nearly one third, and of those ex- 
ceeding sixty, nearly one quarter part. 

* Of these 659, 216 were under ten years of age. 

154 had attained to or exceeded sixty. 
And of these latter, 55 were between 60 and 70 

42 70 and 80 

46 80 and 90 

11 90 and 100 



31 



Now, my brethren, what a record is here ! What a 
multitude does it show to us, who have gone the way 
whence they shall not return. We have not been visit- 
ed during this period, if we except only a few short 
weeks, by contagious disease. The pestilence has not 
walked among us. Death has made no unusual de- 
mands upon our numbers. We have even enjoyed in 
some years, as in the present,* a signal exemption from 
the grave. We find, moreover, a very large proportion 
among us of those who have attained to old age, even 
beyond the measure of the general estimates of human 
life, or which the registers of mortality in some of 
our most favorably situated and healthful villages 
might justify us to expect. And still, I repeat, how 
many from among us have passed away ! Truly, the 
grave is a land without order. The small and the great 
are there ; the hoary head and the infant of a day ; and 
they both lie down together. Our fathers, where are 
they ? I miss from their places the venerable forms — 
such, at least, they seemed to me — that at my settle- 
ment graced this temple ; of whom some were the 
strength and ornament of our ancient society, who 
brought forth fruit in old age, and are now, we doubt 
not, before the throne of God, serving Him in His tem- 
ple. Others I recal, whose honorable age did not stand 
in length of days ; but being perfected in a short time, 
they fulfilled a long time, and their souls pleasing God, 
he hastened to take them away. Younger heads of 

* To the time of the delivery of this discourse, of the sixteen deaths re- 
corded of those whose funerals I had attended since the beginning of the year, 
four only belonged to the society. In the following week, however, two others 
were added to our dead. 



32 



families, fathers and mothers, children dearer than life, 
the trusted brother and the confiding sister, promising 
young men and active citizens, have alike passed away. 

There is something inexpressibly affecting — were it 
not for the blessed hope and the glorious prospects of 
the gospel of Christ Jesus, we should be ready to say 
awfully mysterious — in these promiscuous ravages of 
death. It has borne from us not the useless only, and 
the worthless, but ' the excellent of the earth,' on whom 
families and friends and even a community reposed ; the 
upright and the honorable, the stay and the staff, with 
lovely infancy and blooming childhood. The simple 
mention of annals like these — what remembrances does 
it not awaken, of ties dissolved, of friends departed, of 
treasures hidden in the grave. Let us rather say, as 
was said by the angel, of the body of the Lord Jesus ; 
they are not here. Let us hope, that we may find 
them hereafter, with the treasure lain up for us in 
heaven. 

Through what varied scenes does it please God to 
call his children to pass ! Here, congratulation for gifts 
bestowed ; there, bereavement and offered solace. 
* Here, a course commenced with the fairest auspices ; 
there, eclipse and disastrous twilight ; here, prayers, 
and hopes for long life, health, and happiness ; there, 
condolence, lamentation, and tears over a lifeless body. 



5* 



* See Mr. Buckminster's discourse at the interment of the Rev. William 
Emerson, May l'2th, 1811, on the day immediately succeeding the ordination of 
the late Rev. Samuel C. Thacher, over the New South Church, in Boston. 
' The services of this joyful occasion,' says Mr. Buckminster, in a note to this 
sermon, ' were so tempered by the idea of the unburied remains of our depart- 
ed brother Emerson, as to render this interesting solemnity unusually serious 
and affecting.' Nor can we here omit the reflection, equally serious and touch- 
ing, that nearly within the spaceof a year, Mr. Buckminster himself was joined 



33 



How often have the waters of baptism on the brow 
of infancy been mingled with the chill dews of death ; 
and within a few short weeks the voices of the bride- 
groom, and of them that make melody, have been hush- 
ed in the silence of the tomb. God grant that time, 
which dries up but too quickly the fountains of grief, 
may not leave it unsanctified ; that so many tears, 
though wiped away, may not have been wept in vain. 
God of his mercy save us from perverting his judgments; 
and from that sorrow of the world, that worketh death. 

And now, my christian brethren and friends, as we 
have considered together the Providence of God, let us 
enquire what are the instructions it presents. Let us 
open our hearts to the lessons of wisdom ; to the 
monitions and encouragements which such a survey 
affords us. 

I. In the first place, let us adore together the faith- 
fulness of God, as it has been manifested in the past, 
and as it establishes our assurance of hope for the fu- 
ture. We have seen one generation passing and another 
generation coming ; but thou, O God, art the same, and 
thy years cannot fail. How sustaining is the thought, 

to the friend he was thus honoring, in a yet earlier grave ; and that the minis- 
try of Mr.Thacher, also, commenced amidst circumstances so affecting, having 
once and again been interrupted by long absence and protracted sickness, was 
closed by his death in a foreign land, before he was permitted to complete its 
seventh year. It was within this period, that the unusual mortality among 
the clergy of Boston and its vicinity, to which reference has been made in 
another part of this discourse, took place. Rev. J. L. Abbot, successor to Mr. 
Emerson in the First Church, died in 1814, after a ministry of only a ie-^ 
months; Rev. Mr. Cary, of the King's Chapel, in 181.5; Dr. Lathrop, of the 
Second Church, in 1816; Mr. Prentiss, of Charlestown,in 1817; Mr.Thacher, 
in France, in 1818; Professor McKean, of Harvard University, who, by his 
frequent occasional services, was intimately connected with the Boston church- 
es, died also abroad the same year; and Mr. Huntingdon, of the Old South 
Church, in 1819. 

5 



34 



that amidst all change, there sitteth on the throne 
the immutable and everlasting One, beholding all, dis- 
posing all, and by means ever at his control, making 
all things work for good. 

Let the conviction of this great truth be our strength 
and our joy, in the relation which unites us as a relig- 
ious society. We remember with affection the friends 
that are gone. Let us be grateful that so many remain ; 
and that in the faithfulness of God is our sure hope for 
the time to come. It is by his law, that one generation 
passeth away. It is equally his law, that another gen- 
eration cometh. Yes ! brethren, we will bless God, 
that the ravages of death do not prevail to desolate our 
churches ; that the gospel lives, though its believers die. 
The generations of God's servants continue, and their 
seed shall be established forever. 

II. It is a fit subject for our congratulation, that 
amidst the many that have gone, and changes which not 
death alone and the vicissitudes of life, but multiplying 
churches and multiplying sects have made, this an- 
cient society still remains in so good measures of pros- 
perity and peace. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us. 
But it becomes us to remember both how we have 
ministered and how we have received. 

For myself, while I repeat my hearty thanks to Al- 
mighty God for preserving care and continued opportu- 
nities of service, I would inwardly feel, rather than pub- 
licly lament, the infirmities and defects to which I cannot 
be insensible, and for which His mercy is my only hope. 
But I surely may express the sense I cherish of the 



35 



kindnesses you have bestowed, and especially of the 
candor with which you have always interpreted my ef- 
forts to serve you. Would to God that they had been 
more effectual. For amidst the harmony that unites 
us, and which I joyfully accept as a token for good, 
much remains for monition and improvement. I regret — 
in all pastoral fidelity I must regret — that so many 
among us, exemplary as I believe in other relations, 
and whose friendship I number with my privileges, still 
fail to observe the ordinances of God ; forsaking for no 
urgent occasion, (as the manner of multitudes in this 
city is) the afternoon worship, and leaving us sadly 
alone in the celebration of a Saviour's love. I lament, 
that of so many parents among us, the offspring are left 
unbaptized. It is with me a subject for humiliation and 
distrust, that few are persuaded to these duties, when 
I would gladly persuade all. Let me entreat you, be- 
loved, that the poorness of my ability be not taken as 
your apology for the neglect of the duty. Let me be- 
seech you, fathers and mothers, to bring your children 
hither to the waters of baptism, and yourselves to the 
table of the Lord. Let me exhort you that are young, 
to know the God of your Fathers, and Christ Jesus 
whom he has sent ; to remember him as he commands, 
and to consecrate to him the first fruits of your lives. 

Is it asked how we shall best maintain, in their purity 
and efficacy, the institutions of religion, and be faithful 
to the inheritance we have received from our fathers ? 
The answer is, simply by observing them. By separa- 
ting them, absolutely and forever, from all the vain the- 
ories, refinements, and excitements of the hour, and 



36 



by cherishing them in the spirit of a filial reverence, of 
a faith that works by love. 

And now, brethren, we may say with an apostle, hav- 
ing obtained help of God, we are here together this day. 
How long we may thus continue, is known only to 
Him with whom is the residue of our years. What 
events await us, of joy or grief, of life or death, we 
may not even conjecture. Of this only are we certain, 
that when a few years have come, we shall every one 
of us be called ' to give an account of himself to God.' 
But our hearts' desire is, that v/hen these places that 
know us shall know us no more, there may still be found 
here a generation to serve Him. May venerable piety 
still grace this temple, and the freshness of youth be 
here consecrated to God. May the hearts of the pa- 
rents here be turned to the children, and the hearts of 
the children to the parents, and thus in the faith and 
virtue of generations yet to come, may that gracious 
word, according to which we hope, be fulfilled, ' As 
for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord : — 
my spirit that is upon thee, and the words that I have 
put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, 
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth 
of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and 
for ever.' 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE A. (p. 5.) 

The New North Church was dedicated in May, 1804. An 
occasion of this kind, though now of frequent occurrence, was 
then an unusual event in Boston and its vicinity. Indeed, the 
erection of a new church was numbered among the weighty, if not 
hazardous enterprises of the day. With the exception of the 
wooden church in Mollis street, afterwards removed to make way 
for the present more durable edifice, no new congregational church 
had been undertaken since the Brattle street, in 1773. So that at 
the consecration of the New North, Dr. Lathrop, then among the 
oldest ministers of the town, and familiar, it may well be believed, 
with the various duties of his calling, being invited to assist his 
friend. Dr. Eliot, in the dedication, remarked to one of his own 
parishioners, that it was a service so new to him, that he hardly 
knew how to set about it, 'though,' added he, 'having Solomon's 
Prayer for the Temple, we are not left without a model.' 

NOTE B. (p. 7.) 

Dr. Andrew Eliot has justly been numbered with the most emi- 
nent divines of New England. Through the Avhole of his minis- 
try, his congregation was one of the most numerous and respecta- 
ble in Massachusetts, to whom, as has been observed, he was most 
faithfully and affectionately devoted. At the same time, he took 
a deep interest in the literary, philanthropic, and civil concerns of 
the times. To Harvard College his services were of great impor- 
tance. He was a member of its corporation for nearly fourteen 
years, ' and after the death of President Holj-oke, in 1769, he was 
urged to take his place. The attachment he bore to his people, 



38 



caused him to decline the election. After the resignation of Pres- 
ident Locke, who succeeded Holyoke, he was actually chosen into 
the office, though contrary to his urgent request.' From that pe- 
riod, however, to his death, including most of the presidency of 
Dr. Langdon, his influence on the affairs of the college was sought 
and highly valued. [See ' Historical Notices of the New North 
Religious Society.'] 

His volume of sermons, twenty in number, which he dedicated 
with a pastoral affection to the people of his charge, and which is 
highly valued to this day by the aged among us who knew him, 
is very creditable to his talents, and well sustains the reputa- 
tion he has ever enjoyed, as an able, faithful, and in the highest 
sense of the term, a catholic divine. Like many of the clergy 
of his day, he was called a ' moderate Calvinist' ; but it will be 
difficult for the impartial reader to detect the doctrines of the 
Genevan School in any of his publications. All his discourses 
were eminently practical ; his illustrations of doctrine were ra- 
tional and judicious ; and his warm heart and hand of fellowship 
were open to all that loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. 

In common with his brethren of that day, he evinced a 
deep concern in the progress of the American revolution ; never 
introducing politics, except the broad politics of Christianity, into 
his pulpit, but always mindful of his rights and responsibilities as 
a citizen. 

After the death of Dr. Mayhew, in 1766, he maintained a reg- 
ular correspondence with Thomas Hollis, Esq. of London, that 
ardent friend of America, as he was of civil and religious 
liberty ; from whom he received many valuable presents in books, 
and was the medium, also, of some of his liberal benefactions to 
Harvard College. 

With Arch-deacon Blackburne, the author of the Confessional, 
and well known for his attachment to this country ; with 
Dr. Samuel Chandler, one of the most eminent of the dis- 
senting ministers of his time, with Dr. Harris, and others, he ex- 
changed several letters. To Dr. Chandler, particularly, he wrote, 
soliciting his influence to prevent the establishment of another 
college in Massachusetts, as proposed by Governor Bernard, and 
other zealous Episcopalians. 



39 



Through the favor of his grandson, Mr. John F. Eliot, I have in 
my possession a manuscript volume, in which, vi^ith a few letters 
of a personal and domestic nature, the whole of the English cor- 
respondence is fairly copied out. Some of the letters of Mr. Hol- 
lis and Arch-deacon Blackburne are highly curious and charac- 
teristic. They show the sense these gentlemen entertained of the 
character of Dr. Eliot, and might furnish, did the limits of this 
appendix permit, copious matter for quotation or remark. Should 
a suitable opportunity occur, selections from this manuscript might 
easily be made, and, I may venture to say, would be found no un- 
interesting addition to the documents, official and private, ilustra- 
ting the history of the revolution, which, by the indefatigable 
labors of Mr. Sparks, have within a few years been made public. 

Of the same nature with this English correspondence of Dr. 
Eliot, combining the most familiar domestic or personal affairs, 
with subjects of great political moment, are the letters between 
the elder President and Mrs. Adams, with some taste of which 
the public were favored in a highly interesting lecture, delivered 
last winter, before the Historical Society, by one of his immediate 
descendants, Charles F. Adams, Esq. 



A curious passage in one of these letters of Mr. Hollis, leaves 
us to infer, that being a man of retired habits, and preferring his 
own quiet ways to general society, he had been annoyed by the 
visits of Americans in London, who naturally, but perhaps obtru- 
sively, sought the acquaintance of so ardent a friend of their 
country. New England clergymen, also, were accustomed to send 
to him their printed sermons ; from which, not being always to 
the taste of Mr. Hollis, he begs, as was reasonable, to be excused. 

Here follows his earnest request. 

To Rev. Andrew Eliot, D. D. 

Pali-Mall, Feb. 23d, 1767. 

If you would be pleased to give out, in your own handsome way, in Boston 
and about, that I wish to avoid all private correspondence, and all private per- 
sonal visitors from thence, however in certain respects lionorable, you will 
do me a great favor. My wish has long been to serve mankind, every where, 
each under each, like Shakspeare's hounds, embodyed, rather than individu- 
ally : for to both ways, T am of opinion, the lot of humanity is not equal. 

Pray sir, assist me friendlily in this matter. Scarce a ship now arrives from 
Boston, but brino-s some good man to take offence at my not seeing him. * * 
Keep me clear, also, of JVortk American Servians, unless by special men on 
very special occasions.' 



40 



Of Dr. Eliot's sentiments in relation to creeds and subscriptions 
imposed by human authority, we may easily judge from the fol- 
lowing passage in a letter to Arch-deacon Blackburne, dated 1767. 

' The fathers of New England were a set of worthy men, but they did not 
understand religious liberty. There was too much of an intolerant spirit among 
them. It was not a fault peculiar to them ; it was the error of the day. But 
however contracted they were in their religious sentiments, they never imposed 
subscriptions to any human forms. Possibly this was because there was no sus- 
picion of erroneous principles. But I would rather think, that their good sense 
taught them that it could answer no valuable end, and could lead only to pre- 
varication and falsehood.' 



NOTE C. (p. 9.) 

The serious typographical errors which abound in his ' New 
England Biographical Dictionary,' and diminish its value, were a 
source of deep mortification to Dr. Eliot. They are the more to 
be regretted, as they Avere in consequence of his mistaken kind- 
ness in entrusting the printing of the work to the inexperienced 
and unfaithful hands of a young parishioner, whom, as just enter- 
ing upon business, with his usual pastoral benevolence, he was 
willing to assist. Dr. E. had devoted to this work the leisure of 
his life. ' But,' says his brother, in the historical notices before 
quoted, ' he could never hear it spoken of without disgust.' Had 
his pecuniary circumstances permitted, he would have suppressed 
the edition. Yet, notwithstanding these blunders of the press, 
the work is of the highest authority. 

Note D. (p. 17.) 

The ordination of the present pastor took place on December 
8th, 1813. The services of the occasion were introduced with 
prayer by Rev. Charles Lowell. The sermon was preached by 
the Rev. W. E. Channing, with whom for three years, and after- 
wards at the Divinity School in Edinburgh, the writer pursued his 
theological studies. The consecrating prayer was offered by Rev. 
President Kirkland, of Harvard University : the Charge by Rev. 
Dr. Lathrop: the Right Hand of Fellowship by Rev. Mr. Tucker- 
man, of Chelsea ; and the concluding prayer by Rev. Mr. Hurd, 
of Lynn. 




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